Mayor Who Took Oath on Constitution Instead of Bible Says He “Would Not Be Elected” Today

Bob Scott was elected mayor of Franklin, North Carolina last year and made it a point to take his oath on a Constitution instead of a Bible.

He even told the American Humanist Association that he made the decision because “there is so much controversy surrounding separation of church and state. I am a firm believer in keeping religion and government separate.”

And while that shouldn’t be newsworthy, Scott’s recent comments should be.

“The issue for me was whether you are upholding the law — not the religious law,” he said.

But, this placed him at the center of a firestorm. People called him a heathen and questioned his fiber as a human being. Indicative of the prevailing thinking, he said, someone wrote of him, “His choice sends a dangerous message that places every citizen at risk with the erroneous notion that our rights come from the state — not God.”

Sadly, Scott concluded, “If the election were held now I would not be elected.”

I don’t know if that’s necessarily true, but remember what this “controversy” is all about. Scott swore his oath on the Constitution, not Mao’s Little Red Book. And yet he’s come to believe it would hurt him in a re-election campaign.